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Entering the 2022-23 NBA campaign, plenty of folks believed the Los Angeles Clippers — led by star wings Kawhi Leonard and Paul George — had a legitimate chance to win the 2023 title. After all, the Clippers had one of the deepest benches in the league to complement their two stars. But fast forward to the current day, and it's evident that the Clippers fell very short of their championship expectations.
Kawhi Leonard missed 30 games due to injury during the regular season, and Paul George missed 26. As a result, the Clippers finished the 2022-23 regular season with a mediocre 44-38 record, the fifth-best in the Western Conference, and barely missed out on the play-in tournament. And the Clippers' postseason run was short-lived, as Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and the Phoenix Suns eliminated the Clippers in five games in the first round of the 2023 NBA postseason.
The Clippers' 2022-23 season was certainly underwhelming, but a solid NBA Draft could have helped fans forget about the season that was. Unfortunately, though, the Clippers did not have a great draft, or even a good one, to be frank.
The Los Angeles Clippers had two picks in the 2023 NBA Draft and one first-rounder. Specifically, the Clippers owned the 30th and 48th picks, which they used to select Missouri forward Kobe Brown and Miami guard Jordan Miller. And the Clippers made a big mistake by not using these picks to trade up higher into the first round. With all of that said, let's look at one big mistake that the Los Angeles Clippers made in the 2023 NBA Draft:
1 big mistake by Clippers in 2023 NBA Draft
Not trading up to pick 21 to select Cam Whitmore
Seemingly every NBA Draft, there's one very highly regarded prospect who falls lower in the draft than many expected him to. This year, that prospect was Villanova forward Cam Whitmore.
Whitmore was widely expected to be one of the first ten names called in the 2023 NBA Draft, yet he didn't even go in the lottery. He fell all the way down to 20, where the Houston Rockets finally picked him up in what may go down as arguably the biggest steal in the 2023 NBA Draft.
Whitmore, 6'7″, flashed impressive two-way potential in his freshman season at Villanova. On the defensive end, he used his length to stymie opposing wings and guards, as he averaged 1.4 steals per game with Villanova.
And on the offensive end of the floor, he showed the ability to score the ball from both inside and outside the three-point arc. Whitmore shot an efficient 57.8% on two-point fields for the season and converted 34.3% of his three-point attempts on 4.2 attempts per game.
The main reason that the Clippers should have traded up for Whitmore is Leonard and George's future with the Clippers is uncertain. If the Clippers come up short in the playoffs once again in 2024, it's very possible that they will end up trading one or both of Leonard and George. And if the Clippers did move one of their star wings, Whitmore could be a safety blanket at the wing position, as he has star potential.
All in all, Whitmore's youth, physical profile, and two-way potential are alluring, and he would have been able to contribute right away and step into a bigger role in the near future if Paul George and/or Kawhi Leonard had left the Clippers.
